Okay I know it’s not officially fall until the 22nd and the autumn equinox, but fall is definitely on the way. The days are shorter, the leaves are falling as the maples give in to the drought. The flowers are going over and the bees are less active. The hummingbird is looking for nectar from flowers that have gone to seed, and there’s a path worn into the dry grass where we walk from the inner yard to the outer yard.
On Sunday I picked grapes – a huge mixing bowl full. It was the best harvest we’ve ever had and we didn’t even water them very much. On Monday Dave picked apples – 35 pounds worth! We’ve now made 8 crisps (some apple/grape mixes) and two apple pies. And we still have lots of apples left over. I see apple muffins and apple cake in my future. We’re freezing the grapes, Ziploc bags full. Have to get more bags as we’ve run out!
And we haven’t even started on the pears yet, which we have to pick in the next week or so. Apparently if you let them ripen off the tree they’re less grainy, which is one of the less desirable textures of pears. We culled a huge number of mini pears when they were still developing, knowing that we couldn’t deal with all of them. But there are still at least 50 on the tree.
Fall’s bounty knows no bounds. Even when you don’t actively look after fruit trees and grape vines, they produce prolifically. Maybe there’s a metaphor there, but if so I can’t find it right now. I’m still dealing with the high that made me put the blog on hiatus in July and am at the “I’m completely out of it” stage of medication, which means I can probably start tapering off the extra dose.
Looking forward to our trip to the Rockies–want to make the most of it while we can.
See you next month!
Yes, early fall here in California! Hoping that this a.m.’s excellent unexpected rainstorm is also dampening many of the forest fires north of here.